


Walking Scandals

by TheDragonsLittleBird



Category: Red Dead Redemption (Video Games)
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, F/F, Implied Sexual Content, Internalized Homophobia, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-03-27
Packaged: 2019-12-18 13:50:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18251126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDragonsLittleBird/pseuds/TheDragonsLittleBird
Summary: Sadie Adler is no different, before or after her drastic change of clothing and attitude, but Karen doesn’t exactly think the woman is right in the head, so she isn’t sure that counts for much. Still, it has to count somewhat, after all, Mrs. Adler doesn’t exactly hide the scathing looks she sends her way every now and then.To be entirely honest, Karen couldn’t care less.





	Walking Scandals

If Karen didn’t know any better, she’d say she was charming.

Sure, she didn’t think much of Sadie Adler when she first joined the gang. Just another person to take care of, another mouth to feed. If someone asked Karen, she’d tell them she thought Mrs. Adler was biting off more than she could chew.

Still, things seem to be getting better – until they aren’t.

The feud between the Grays and the Braithwaites explodes in the worst way possible, the Pinkertons are hot on their trail again and they have to move once more.

To top it all off, Sean is dead.

She’d be lying if she said that strikes an extremely hard blow on her, but she’d also be lying if she said she doesn’t care at all. Sean saw her when no one else did, and he had been one of the few people who weren’t at least a little condescending towards her; Everyone else thinks she is stupid – or too reckless. Karen can see that. Even Arthur and Tilly, arguably the nicest of them all, seem to think of her as a naive little girl at best.

Sadie Adler is no different, before or after her drastic change of clothing and attitude, but Karen doesn’t exactly think the woman is right in the head, so she isn’t sure that counts for much. Still, it has to count somewhat, after all, Mrs. Adler doesn’t exactly hide the scathing looks she sends her way every now and then.

To be entirely honest, Karen couldn’t care less.

**********************

It’s only after they get Jack back that things begin to change.

If someone asked how Karen felt without company she’d say perfectly fine, thank you, but that isn’t exactly true. In truth, she is more lonely than she’d like to admit, and she clearly isn’t the only one going through emotional trouble, because Mrs. Adler makes sure to take out all her repressed anger on some poor unsuspecting O’Driscolls unlucky enough to cross her path; not that Karen feels bad for the shmucks. As far as she’s concerned, they deserve every bit of hell Sadie gives them.

But much to her distress, she starts to... _notice_ Sadie Adler in a way she didn’t before.

She isn’t sure if it’s in the way the woman carries herself around camp, with enough confidence to rival Dutch Van der Linde himself, or how she comes back from scouting missions with her hair tousled and her hat slightly tipped, how she tends to lay back on her chair while smoking a cigarette and frowning at the horizon itself, or the way she’ll sometimes be more gentlemanly to the women in camp than the men themselves. Maybe it’s the ferocity with which she fights, blood in her eyes as she shoots enemies down with no remorse or hesitation. Karen doesn’t know what it is exactly, but something in Sadie Adler starts to catch her eye more than it did before, and she’s uncomfortably aware of the fact that this is how she used to look at Sean.

She’s watching the woman sat against a tree, looking at the swamp, one day, when the blonde suddenly turns around and catches her eye. Karen instantly reddens and tries to think of an excuse as to why she was staring, but Sadie simply smirks knowingly at her and turns her gaze back to the swamp water.

Karen is even redder than before, and tries not to think of the reason why as she turns around and decides to occupy herself in a match of dominoes with Arthur.

***********************

As if fate was laughing at them, things get even worse.

The bank heist goes horribly wrong, and Sadie is the first person to take the reigns and get them all out of Shady Belle before the Pinkertons have a chance to back them up against a corner.

Hosea and Lenny are dead, Dutch, Arthur, Micah and Javier are missing, John is in jail and they’re running out of places to hide. At least Charles came back to camp safe and sound. That doesn’t keep Karen from drowning herself in the bottle again.

She feels even more stupid when all she can think of when drunk off her ass is how dashing Sadie looked when getting them out of danger. Too bad she’s not drunk enough not to notice the woman openly staring at her, though Karen can’t quite decipher the look itself.

They recover the bodies of Hosea and Lenny, and bury them next to each other near Shady Belle. Karen tries to pretend the sight of them doesn’t sadden her and she remembers Sean, and Kieran.

She’s sittting by the swamp when Sadie sits next to her out of the blue and gently wraps her hand around the bottle Karen’s clutching, without pulling it out of her hand.

“You’re gonna drown yourself if ya keep drinking near the water, ms. Jones.”

Karen is not sober enough to deal with condescending shit right now, so she turns her head with all of the disdain she can muster and says, noticeably slurring:

“Oh? Don’t tell me you suddenly decided to be the _responsible_ one, Mrs. Adler.”

Sadie audibly snorts.

“I think we both know that’ll never happen. I’d just rather not lose anyone else to stupidity. Enough dead folks already, and Marston got his dumb ass arrested, so we need everyone in one piece.”

“Please,” it’s Karen’s turn to snort, “as if anyone here needs _me_ for anything.”

Sadie furrows her brows.

“What makes ya say that?”

“I can hear them _talking_ behind my back, and I can see _you_ glaring at me, Sadie Adler. ‘M not stupid.”

“Then don’t act like it,” at this, Sadie somewhat brusquely snatches the bottle from her hands and gets up, extending a hand to her, “Come on, Ms. Grimshaw needs help unpacking.”

Karen grumbles, but takes her hand nonetheless.

***********************

Karen can’t sleep.

She’s lying down on a hammock in one of the cabins and her mind won’t shut up; she thinks about Arthur, and Dutch, she thinks about Hosea and Lenny and Sean, and before she knows it she’s staring at Sadie across the room. She hopes against hope the rest of the boys are safe, but the way things have been going, she’s not so sure anymore.

She can make out everyone’s features in the dim candlelight, and she notices Sadie opening her eyes and staring right back at her, without a word.

She can only hold that gaze for so long before getting up as silently as possible not to wake anyone, and getting out of the cabin.

Once outside, she breathes in the moist, heavy night air of the swamp and notices too late the tears that start to spill. She looks up at the stars, and notice they don’t look as beautiful as they once did.

She’s tired.

“What’s bothering ya?”

She jumps a little at the hoarse voice next to her and frantically wipes her face clean of the tears, sniffing slightly.

When she turns around to face Sadie, she’s irritated.

“What’s gotten into ya today?”, she snaps, angrily, “Will you leave me alone?”

She turns on her heel and rushes off to the empty cabin used to hold their provisions, and tries not to slam the door on her way in.

She’s not surprised when she hears it softly opening again and breathes deeply once more.

“You know I can’t do that, Ms. Jones.”

“Why?” she turns around, “None of you ever gave a damn and now suddenly _you_ of all people start to bother me the whole day about the way I cope-“

“’Me of all people?’” Sadie snorts, “I’m not the one staring at folks like I wanna eat them.”

Karen reddens at this.

“Oh, yes,” the blonde continues, “I’ve seen the way ya look at me. How you’ll keep looking and then pretend you ain’t because you’re _scared_ of me-“

“Scared of you?” Karen’s eyes widen, “Please, of all the people I could be scared of you’re pretty low on the list!”

“Prove it,” Sadie is suddenly very close, and she traps Karen against the wall, her left hand on the wall next to her head, “Come on, show me you’re the tough girl you like to act like.”

Karen swallows, and automatically brings her hand up to rest on Sadie’s shoulder, though she doesn’t push her back.

She stares defiantly at Sadie’s eyes before something in her snaps, and she grabs the back of her neck and pulls her down for a kiss.

It lasts for a few seconds before Karen herself pulls back and stares at the other woman in shock of what she’s just done. She’s never been with women, never taken an interest in one before, and yet there is something about Sadie Adler that infuriatingly draws her to her.

They’s both silent for a moment, neither moving.

“This is scandalous,” Karen chokes out at last.

“We’re nothing if not walking scandals, Ms. Jones,” Sadie replies, her eyes half lidded, her pupils dilated, and she leans back in and Karen _knows_ this is a horrible idea because they’re both women, Sadie clearly still loves her late husband and this is nothing but unwinding, but by God, she’s so deprived of intimacy and physical contact, and it feels so good to be _wanted_ again, she doesn’t care about any of that right now. She suspects Sadie feels the same.

By the time they’re done, Karen is sitting against the wall, clutching the back of Sadie’s shirt tightly as the other woman kneels against her, her hand up her skirt. They’re both panting, Sadie’s hat having fallen off her head long ago, and Karen can’t help but wonder when she went so off the rails.

Sadie slowly draws back and pulls her hand away, and moves to sit next to her against the wooden wall. She pulls a cigarette and a box of matches out of her pockets, lights it and takes a drag before offering it to Karen.

She accepts, and takes a drag of her own before passing it back. They both stay there staring at the opposite wall without saying a word, before Sadie gets up and, just like earlier, offers her a hand.

Karen takes it once more.

She sleeps better than she has in a while, that night.

Neither of them talk about it the next day.

**Author's Note:**

> Had this sitting in my phone for a while and thought, why the hell not? Not entirely sure I like the ending, but there you have it. Please consider leaving a comment if you like this, it helps a lot :)


End file.
